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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Misc: The Boogaloo, the Griffin, and Pentonville Road

Boogaloo Bar, 312 Archway Rd., Highgate, London N6.

This pub was designed to be a “rock ‘n’ roll bar,” and it is now well-known for its jukebox, live bands, as well as the celebrities that frequent it, which one would certainly not expect after catching a glimpse of its unspectacular, rundown surroundings on Archway Road. It is currently a favourite hangout of Shane MacGowan of the Pogues and Pete Doherty, among others.

This plaque by the door is a declaration of the bar’s intentions to carry on the great tradition of the jukebox as well as the tradition of playing quality music.

As the London Metro explains, “What sets the Boogaloo apart is the jukebox. A quick flick through revealed an impeccable range from Patsy Cline to The Stooges, with nothing—intentionally—after 1992. Each month it will also feature a different artist’s top ten favourite albums” (Allfree 2003). Such artists have included MacGowan and Doherty.

In 1975 Shane MacGowan “took a job as a barman in the Griffin Tavern, a large Irish pub close to Charing Cross Station” (Clerk 15). This is a classic example of the prevalence of London-Irish culture in the lives of The Pogues as well as other, similar groups at the time.

The Griffin is now called:

The Bell & Compass

9-11 Villiers St.

The original Griffin, pictured here (via beerintheevening). Customer reviews suggest that the atmosphere of the Griffin has also been completely changed.

Pentonville Road (On a Sunset Eve)

Pentonville Road, just off Euston Road and Kings Cross, near the old Pogues/Nips flats on Burton, Cromer, and Whidbourne Streets, and near The Pindar of Wakefield pub [see other post for more on them].

“Going transmetropolitan... From Pentonville Road on a sunset eve to the beauty that’s Mill Lane” –Shane MacGowan, “Transmetropolitan”

“At the top of the Pentonville Road I saw the sun setting The town spread out before me looked beautiful to me Away from all the crying, the suffering and the dying I dreamed of the future, of the young and the free” –Shane MacGowan, “NW3”

#the pogues #the boogaloo #the griffin #pentonville road #shane macgowan

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Stavordale Road N5

(Huge thanks to Shanne Bradley for her help in finding the flat, information, and reference photos of Shane and the Nips rehearsing there in the old days!)

The London bedsit that was the subject of the Nips/Nipple Erectors song.

12 Stavordale Road, Shanne Bradley’s first bedsit, immortalized in song.

“As you stand facing the front door of the house I was on the first floor. My first bedsit was on the left and then I moved to the room on the right! Shane lived with me in the room on the right. I had a kitchen which was a sort of glass building tacked on the back of the house also had access to the roof.." -Shanne Bradley

"Stavordale Road, N5, Yawn yawn, shake it up baby now...."

Photos of the place now, paired with old photos of Shanne's:

The street itself hasn't changed much, as seen here (the bricks along the road look exactly the same):

#the nips #stavordale road n5 #the pogues #shane macgowan #the nipple erectors

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Institute of Contemporary Arts and Soho

“From the dear old streets of King’s Cross…”

“…to the doors of the ICA” –Shane MacGowan, “Transmetropolitan”

The ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

The ICA, or Institute of Contemporary Arts, was the site of many punk gigs in the late ‘70s. “The whole scene was based on gigs at places like the ICA,” said Shane MacGowan (Scanlon, Lost Decade, 12).”

Advertised as “A Night of Pure Energy,” The Clash played one of their first-ever gigs there on 23 October 1976. Shane MacGowan was in attendance and famously got his ear cut (not bitten off).

“A row of parked Vivas, Consuls and Zephyrs indicated that the ICA had an audience a little different to the usual. It was ‘A Night Of Pure Energy’ with Subway Sect, who were terrible, Snatch Sounds, who I missed, and The Clash. The Clash were real good. I enjoyed them a lot more than the Patti Smith Band the night before. They were not poseurs” (NME 1976). The particular Clash gig became infamous when a situation typical of semi-violent punk behaviour occurred at the front of the stage. “Joe peered down at the audience in front of the stage and muttered ‘I don't believe what's happening down here at the front’… A young couple, somewhat out of it,” had been having a bit too much fun with broken glass.

The NME article, with its sensationalistic headline:

One half of the couple was none other than Shane MacGowan. “I was up the front at this Clash gig in the ICA, and me and this girl were having a laugh….But I got into The Evening Standard and that made me a ‘face’ from then on… ‘Cos that’s what it turned into. It’s like the old story about the bloke who catches the fish, he says that it weighs this much and it’s that big and within a couple of days it’s a whale” (Scanlon, Lost Decade, 13).

“Let’s go down to the old West End” –Shane MacGowan, The Nips, “Gabrielle”

….to The Cambridge, a pub which is advertised in its menu as being located “in the heart of Soho.”

The Cambridge, 93 Charing Cross Road, WC2H

Due to its location in the theatre district, The Cambridge is a popular tourist attraction today. But its history is quite different.

“The Cambridge has never been recognised for its part in popular rock history. Day in, day out, tourists and pre-theatre tipplers mill around the two floors of an establishment that, 30 years ago, was serving drinks to a completely different clientele. Shane MacGowan would sit there for hours, airing his thoughts about music and politics and current affairs…. There were punks—early punks like Siouxsie Sioux—who were forming or championing bands” (Clerk 1).

“The bar had been a regular haunt for the Pistols, Clash and the small core of punk rockers throughout 1976 and 1977” (Green 45).

Kirsty MacColl

“With the support and blessing of Kirsty MacColl's family and management, a proposal was put to Westminster Council to place a Bench in Kirsty's memory in Soho Square, central London…. It has a special place in the hearts of Kirsty's fans as the setting for a song on the Titanic Days album: it's where ‘the pigeons shiver in the naked trees’ and there's ‘an empty bench in Soho Square’” (kirstymaccoll.com).

#the pogues #the nips #ica #soho #kirsty maccoll #the clash #shane macgowan

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Camden Town, Part 2

“In the late-70s, it was common to see musicians working on Camden Lock Market…and even Joe Strummer and Topper Headon were seen selling clothes on an open air stall the day after the press launch for Give ‘Em Enough Rope, in November 1978” (Scanlon, Camden, 61).

“ ‘Camden Market became a very popular place to go,’ says Shane MacGowan. ‘We used to…go around the market on a Sunday afternoon and then go to the Roundhouse’” (61).

The Roundhouse

99 Chalk Farm Road, NW1

The Roundhouse is famous both for the many artists who have performed there and for its distinctive shape.

“This former engine house has been described as ‘the Albert Hall of North London’ and is probably the most important building in Camden” (44). In the late 60s and in the 70s, it “was one of the most happening venues in the country, famous for its late-night raves, Sunday all-dayers and some of the earliest punk gigs, such as Patti Smith, the Ramones and the Clash, who all played here in 1976.”

Those punk bands continued to play the Roundhouse throughout 1977, as well as The Jam, The Damned, and Elvis Costello & the Attractions. As for the obligatory Pogues connection, it was at a Ramones gig at the Roundhouse in June of ’77 that Spider Stacy met Shane MacGowan (Clerk 18).

London’s first “all-night rave” was a launch party at the Roundhouse for the International Times; the guests included Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and Marianne Faithful (Scanlon, Camden, 44).

In 1996 the Roundhouse was used as a rock ‘n’ roll venue again for the first time in 18 years which opened with a concert by Elvis Costello. “Elvis Costello was talking about playing there 20 years ago, when it was just a shack, with the roof leaking, but it had this feeling about it. The Roundhouse is one of those places that is tied up with memories and history, and a lot of people wanted to relive the past, especially on Elvis nights” (55).

Camden Stables Market, Chalk Farm Rd.

“The Old Stables” was indeed used for horses before it became the Stables Market in the 80s. Musicians have run stalls at the Stables, including Alan Williams, the Beatles’ first manager (56).

A warehouse in Camden Stables, once known as Rehearsal Rehearsals, was where the Clash lived and worked in their most early days. “It was the Clash’s manager, Bernie Rhodes, who discovered the two-storey, British Rail warehouse…in June 1976. He managed to get the lease for the disused building from British rail, realising that it was the perfect place for the Clash to develop their sound” (Scanlon, Camden, 57). They played their “London debut” show there on 13 August, 1976.

The cover photograph for their self-titled first album was taken in an alleyway outside. Rehearsal Rehearsals. Today it is a stairway, which can be found by entering through the Stables Market entrance and turning left (Whistance).

Rehearsal Rehearsals in Camden Stables was the inspiration for the Clash song “Garageland.”

“Paul and Joe had lived there, and it was the garage land of the song. It was threatening, dark and unpleasant” (Green 40).

“I had to stand on a chair to look out on a cobbled, former British Rail goods yard, now dotted around the sides with garages and lock-ups....Rehearsal Rehearsals was an old Customs warehouse, with thick, black, damp walls” (34). [See the Clash post for more on this.]

Dingwalls

38 Camden Lock Place

Venue and former hangout for Joe Strummer’s 101ers, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Damned, and others during punk. It opened in 1973 as a blues and R&B venue before becoming involved in the punk scene. Artists who played here in the late 70’s include Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Blondie, U2, Generation X and Madness (Scanlon, Camden, 68).

Inverness Street, NW1

Inverness St. is “one of Camden’s longest-running markets” (181).

The Good Mixer

30 Inverness Street

The Good Mixer, run by an Irish couple, became the Pogues’ favourite pub after the Devonshire became too crowded.

“If any one place can be singled out as a microcosm of the changing face of Camden Town in the 90s, then it has to be the Good Mixer. In the space of just two years, this was transformed from a down-at-heel boozer into the most fashionable pub in the country, where it was possible to have a drink alongside Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Morrissey, Madness…and just about every other band you care to mention” (185).

Because of its location on Inverness St., celebrities such as Suggs of Madness and Shane MacGowan were drawn to it because it was possible to go there and not be disturbed. Says Shane, “ ‘I stopped drinking in the Dev because I could no loner get to the bar, so the Mixer became the second choice’” (186).

In December 1991, Shane MacGowan, with Dave Vanian of The Damned, performed in the pub with the Earls of Suave (189). Other artists such as Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker would also visit the pub in the early 90’s.

Out On the Floor records

10 Inverness St.

The store is run by Alan Jones, a rock journo from the 60’s who has interviewed the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones (182). It was the first record shop on Inverness St. An employee of the shop was friends with Stan Brennan, the former manager of both the Nips and the Pogues.

The World’s End and The Underworld

174 Camden High Street

The Underworld is a club known as “The Home of Rock and Indie,” and is found in the basement of the World’s End pub (149). It opened in 1990, and became more of a “grunge” venue than punk.

The World’s End, however, was formerly the Mother Red Cap, an Irish pub founded in the 17th century. In the 1960’s it was a huge part of London-Irish culture, and Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan Behan, Irish writer and Shane MacGowan’s idol) called it one of the best places in London where Irish singing could be heard (150).

BONUS: Jems CD in Camden Stables Market

The collages that cover the shelves feature nearly every musical figure that is important to both the Camden music scene and the musical culture of London as a whole.

This collage, for example, includes The Who, Chuck Berry, Green Day, and, most importantly, a black and white photo of Shane MacGowan and Shanne Bradley, taken circa 1976 before either of them were famous.

This one includes photos of Elvis Costello, David Bowie, and, most prominently, George Harrison. The stall displays quite a number of Beatles photos, most of them from the Hamburg days.

A teenaged Shane MacGowan, holding his self-made punk fanzine, “Bondage,” in 1976.

Just as Johnny Rotten is usually seen as the quintessential face of punk in the “Summer of Hate” in 1977, to many people Shane MacGowan is the face of 1976 (and was in fact named that by Sounds magazine at the end of that year, before the formation of either the Pogues or the Nips, because he was present at nearly every punk gig in London). (See the post on the ICA for more.)

#the pogues #the nips #camden town #the roundhouse #inverness street #elvis costello #the clash #shane macgowan

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Camden Town: The Devonshire Arms, Rock On, Chiswick Records, Electric Ballroom, The “Greeks”

“The devil moon took me out of Soho Up to Camden where the cold north winds blow” –Shane MacGowan, “London Girl”

Kentish Town Road, Camden, NW1 (In Shane MacGowan’s opinion, “the most rock ‘n’ roll street in Camden.”)

The Devonshire Arms, 33 Kentish Town Rd.

“The Dev” used to be the pub of choice for The Pogues. “The Devonshire Arms has the distinction of not only being the first rock ‘n’ roll pub in Camden but also being the first pub in London to hold a regular weekly music session” (Scanlon,Camden, 102). According to MacGowan, “I’d been hanging out in the Devonshire since the late-70s. It was a pretty quite Irish pub which swelled out at the weekends with rock ‘n’ roll kids. By the early-80s, I was hanging out in Camden all the time—The Pogues used to drink in all the pubs round there but the Dev was the coolest” (106).

The pub is now a goth bar, where “goth or alternative clothing” is required for entry.

Rock On, 3 Kentish Town Rd.

Chiswick Records, 5 Kentish Town Rd.

To the left of the Doc Martens boot store is the former site of the Rock On records stall, started by Ted Carroll in August 1975. Above the boot store was the office of Chiswick Records, which moved in in December of that year.

“The presence of Chiswick Records and Rock On’s close proximity to Camden Town Tube Station made the shop a natural hangout for musicians. Among the regulars were early Chiswick signings,” such as the 101ers, Joe Strummer’s first group (93).

Philip Chevron, the Pogues’ guitarist, worked in Rock On for a time, and met Elvis Costello when he came in as a customer; NME ran an article about Elvis buying 50 pounds’ worth of Stax and Atlantic singles there in October 1979 (94).

Chiswick Records was a very important indie label in the late 70s and early 80s—“the first proper rock’n’roll scene in Camden Town” (209). Groups like the 101ers, The Radiators from Space (Phil Chevron’s early group), and The Nips were all acts on the Chiswick label.

“When the Rock On record shop opened next door to Holt’s [previous name of the Doc Martens store] in 1975, it gradually attracted more bands to Camden, and some of them—like the Clash, the Damned and the Nips—would buy their shoes here” (97). The boot store still exists and publicizes the fact that its famous customers have included Madness, Hugh Laurie, The Clash, and The Pogues.

The Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High Street, NW1.

It opened on July 28, 1978 (Scanlon, Camden, 19). Artists who have played here include the Pogues, the Clash, Joy Divison, Nick Cave, Paul McCartney, U2, The Smiths, Madness, and many more.

It became an important venue in the Camden punk scene. Shane MacGowan and Shanne Bradley often attended gigs there (Clerk 9).

The Clash played a 2-night show there in January 1980 to promote London Calling (20). The Pogues used it for rehearsing in the late 80s and performed there with Joe Strummer in 1987. The owner, Bill Fuller, cooked them a steak dinner in the upstairs restaurant of the Ballroom (Scanlon, Camden, 25).

Travel further north along Camden High St. towards Camden Lock…

(Part of the “Streams of Whiskey” video was also filmed in the drained Camden Canal bed)

…until you reach Chalk Farm Road, site of many historical landmarks.

The Marathon, 87 Chalk Farm Rd, NW1

One of the two restaurants nicknamed “The Greeks.” The Pogues and musician Steve Earle attempted a 24-hour drinking session in March 1988 when the Pogues were to play the Kentish Town Town & County Club. Steve Earle: “The Marathon is where I used to hang out in Camden Town with The Pogues. In the Devonshire and then in the Greeks…. The old guy who runs the place said that he has known Shane and Spider since they were kids” (Scanlon, Camden, 81).

The Engine Room, 78-79 Chalk Farm Rd

Formerly the Engine Room, a bar opened by Andrew James, proprietor of The Devonshire. It was known for its rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia and its Tuesday night “Pop Quiz” (79).

Queen of Sheba, 23 Pratt St.

Pratt St. is a Greek area just off Camden High Street. This restaurant used to be one of the two “Greeks.” It was referred to in “The Broad Majestic Shannon,” a Pogues song:

“The last time I saw you was down at the Greeks There was whiskey on Sunday and tears on our cheeks You sang me a song as pure as the breeze Blowing up the road to Glenaveigh”

The atmosphere of Pratt St. is best described in this comment of MacGowan’s: “It was the flashest Greek joint on Pratt Street. The restaurant was a front for a gambling club upstairs, where loads of Greek men used to go. They’d arrive in expensive cars with silly-money coats on…. We used to act respectfully…whereas at the Marathon they didn’t care what you did as long as you were drinking” (139).

#the pogues #camden town #chalk farm road #shane macgowan #the clash #elvis costello #the radiators

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Water Rats, Cromer Street, and Whidborne House

The Water Rats, 328 Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross, London WC1X 8BZ

Formerly the Pindar of Wakefield, a favourite pub of The Pogues in the early days of the band. It was within walking distance of Shane MacGowan’s Cromer St. flat (Clerk 58). The band were friends with Justin and Vicki Ward, owners of the Pindar, so it was here that they played their first gig as “Pogue Mahone,” the name they used prior to “The Pogues,” on 4 October 1982 (Scanlon, Lost Decade, 9).

The first song they played onstage at their debut gig was “Streams of Whiskey.” (Clerk 59). Later, once the band had changed their name and had begun to record real material, the music video for the song “Streams of Whiskey,” from the band’s first album, was filmed in the front and back rooms of the Pindar.

“The video came to a grand finale when The Pogues hired the back-room of The Pindar Of Wakefield and - after packing the place with friends - tipped over a huge table of drinks, to send streams of beer and whiskey flying” (Scanlon, Lost Decade, 34).

Shots of the Water Rats as it is today, paired with two screenshots from the video:

Cromer Street, technically located in south Camden, is the location of Shane MacGowan’s old flat during the “Streams of Whiskey” era. The neighbourhood is very different from the Camden High Street and Market areas further north. Once an Irish area, it is predominantly an Indian neighbourhood.

Whidborne House on Whidborne St., where Jem Finer’s flat was.

Whidborne Street, where Jem Finer lived in a flat in Hillview Estates. Whidborne and Cromer come to a corner, and MacGowan lived in a flat on that corner above the store there. This is possibly that corner.

A former caretaker of Hillview Estates said that he used to hear the band “Pogue Mahone” rehearsing in Finer’s flat on the top floor of Whidborne House (seen below):

#the pogues #streams of whiskey #pindar of wakefield #cromer street #whidbourne house #shane macgowan #pogue mahone

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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The Burton Street Scene

Burton Street, near King’s Cross and past Cromer St., is one of the most crucial locations in Pogues history. The flats where members of The Pogues lived before the band actually formed, as well as where Shane MacGowan’s earlier band The Nips lived, have never before been documented in photographic form.

It was a very artistic community at the time. Shane and Shanne Bradley, his close friend and bass player in The Nips, squatted in No. 32 Burton St. in 1979. Soon, many of their friends, most of which would become members of The Pogues, moved in. One such friend was Jem Finer, the Pogues’ banjo player.

According to Jem, “‘They had a license to use and rent these properties for a certain amount of time. So they were legal and short-term and very cheap to rent’” (Clerk 27). As for the squatting, Carol Clerk explains, “Some of the houses in the street were derelict, quite a few were squats, some were owner-occupied, and others were temporary rentals run by Short-Life Community Housing.”

Finer says, “ ‘It was very much a community, that’s for sure. There was a real mixture of people—ne’er-do-wells, teachers, social workers, maybe even a lawyer or two. Art students, artists, musicians, people like me that were just doing this and that’” (Clerk 27). Shane MacGowan has called the place “inspiring.” When Carol Clerk interrupted MacGowan’s dinner to ask him about the “inspiring” atmosphere, however, he replied curtly, “ ‘It was a street with houses in it.’”

Of course, further investigation shows his half-serious answer to be quite accurate:

No. 5 Burton St.: “I seem to remember that Shane and Spider lived in the very first house on the left,” explains Gavin Douglas, guitarist of the Nips.

Spider Stacy, tin whistle player in the Pogues, was the last to move to Burton St., and indeed lived in No. 5, although they all often exchanged houses with one another. According to Spider, “ ‘There were various levels of organisation and competence in the squats. Some people were real old hands, and it was difficult to tell their houses apart from a kosher place. Others were slightly more anarchic. Number 5 was sane for a couple of weeks…. There were four guys living there, and we were all completely useless’” (Clerk 30). Thus it became uninhabitable and he soon moved out and into No. 32.

No. 32 Burton St., former home of Shane MacGowan, Shanne Bradley, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley.

According to Shanne, 11 people lived in this house, which had 2 kitchens.

No. 32 saw many interesting and definitely anarchic times, such as Spider accidentally lighting a mattress on fire, which resulted in the other residents throwing it out the window (Clerk 31). A table was also thrown from the window on one occasion, recalls James Fearnley, accordionist with The Pogues (40).

Shane and Shanne moved from No. 34, to 32, and possibly to 30.

A view of both 34 and 32:

MacGowan brought his own London-Irish sensibilities to the area. Finer remembers hearing Irish music constantly while living on Burton St. Despite the chaotic, punk atmosphere of the street—“‘There was quite a bit of mayhem going on in Burton Street and I tended to keep myself in my room, out of the way,’” describes Fearnley (Clerk 40)—this was the beginnings of not a punk band, but an Irish one: The Pogues.

Shanne Bradley remembers that she lived in the basement flat in No. 32 with her pet dog.

“Shanne’s flat was in the basement on the left as you look down the street,” recalls Gavin Douglas.

“It was very run-down when we lived/squatted there,” says Gavin Douglas. However, “It does look the same as I remember it, except all the windows have glass in, and it’s a bit tidier!”

"I lived in the basement of 32 Burton street with our baby dog Gnasher. 11 people in that house 2 kitchens.. before this Shane and I lived at number 34 acouple of doors to the right with Pete Petal ..Grinny and Bev also stayed there a little while. Jem lived in upstairs at 32. Spider occasionally stayed 2 doors the otherway from 32 to the left maybe 30 or 28 ..also across the road with Lana..when i moved to 32 shane stayed at 34 which ever way around the houses went. After i moved from 32 to Kentish town.. i think there was only one house left '32' so some people moved in there... All these buldings have been done up. A missing place where it all started way before this is Stavordale road N5 my first bedsit.. [Ed: See Stavordale Road N5 post for photos of this.] I also lived in Euston for 20 months after Stavordale rd before Burton st.”

-Shanne Bradley

As this sign shows, Burton St. was perfectly situated between Kings Cross station and the area near The Water Rats, and Camden Town, a cultural nexus for Irish and punk music at that time.

#the pogues #the nips #burton street #shane macgowan #the nipple erectors

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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ABOUT

TBA

#about

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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The Clash

Site of the Clash's first album cover in Camden at Rehearsal Rehearsals....

It is now a staircase.

The big door, across from the staircase, that the band used to get into Rehearsals Rehearsals:

(Note: at the time of these photos, 2007 and 2008, Rehearsal Rehearsals was a gallery/shop that had recently been closed and was undergoing construction. Today, it is the Cyberdog London store.)

Rehearsal Rehearsals in Camden Stables was the inspiration for the Clash song “Garageland.”

“Paul and Joe had lived there, and it was the garage land of the song. It was threatening, dark and unpleasant” (Green 40).

“I had to stand on a chair to look out on a cobbled, former British Rail goods yard, now dotted around the sides with garages and lock-ups….Rehearsal Rehearsals was an old Customs warehouse, with thick, black, damp walls” (34).

Mick Jones had a flat in Pembridge Villas which he shared with Tony James:

Ladbroke Grove

109 Ladbroke Grove

In 1980, Joe Strummer rented a second floor flat with Gaby Salter.

Down the street from the flat is:

The Elgin

96 Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill

A pub where Joe’s first band, the 101ers, had a residency in the mid-’70s.

101 Walterton Road, Maida Vale

Joe Strummer’s squat. The 101ers were, of course, named for this squat.

101 is across the street from 100 & 102. There is a new building there, a very different style (the original 101 Walterton Road would have resembled 100 & 102):

#the clash #camden town #rehearsal rehearsals #joe strummer #the 101ers

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darkstreetsoflondon · 9 years

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Stiff Records

32 Alexander Street, London W2

Stiff was an “indie” label formed in July 1976 by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Ironically, the neighbourhood has become upscale and bears little resemblance to the location that would have been the ideal spot to establish a small record company. 32 Alexander St., once the Stiff offices, is now a gallery.

The Damned, early punk band, shown here in front of the Stiff offices circa 1977 (evidently before the planting of the tree that now grows there). Pictured in the foreground is Jake Riviera, co-founder of Stiff and Elvis Costello’s original manager. On the far right is Nick Lowe, the first artist signed to the label, and producer of many Costello records. And…

(via Musicpictures)

Elvis Costello himself in front of Stiff Records.

(via Sounds 1977)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, shown here in front of the offices, gave the label its first great success since the release of Nick Lowe’s first single. The signing of Nick Lowe, The Damned, and Elvis Costello saw the beginning of Stiff’s heyday. Kirsty MacColl would also later be signed (although her early works with Stiff have been overshadowed by her famous duet with The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York.”)

The last successful act signed by Stiff was The Pogues, in 1983, but by then the success of the label was already declining, and it folded in 1985.

#stiff records #elvis costello #nick lowe #the damned #jake riviera

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